I'm here. I'm not dead. I've been starting to get calls and e-mails, so I thought I'd mention that. >_> I keep meaning to write up a post about the squid hat I knit, or how life is going, or something else. But then I don't get around to it. Sorry about that. I'll try to get something more up this week.
A small reward will be issued for information leading to the successful capture of my motivation.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
How to Knit a Love Song
I've been reading Rachael Herron's blog for a couple of years now, so I was very excited to be able to buy her first book, How to Knit a Love Song.
The book "in the wild"
The Wild
I bought the book at The Bookstore in Glen Ellyn, even though they had to order it for me, which meant that I had to wait for it to come in. The Bookstore is a tiny, little bookstore. However, they're also next to my LYS, String Theory Yarn Co. (on the left in the photo), so I suggested to the owners of both shops that stocking the book could be a good idea. After all, there's a pattern for Cade's sweater in the back of the book. Buy the book, then head next door for the yarn. Win-win, right?
Of course, the book is also available online at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Powell's. It will be available in Target stores starting in April.
The Review:
I'm not always much of a romance reader, but I enjoyed How to Knit a Love Song. I admit, at first I was horrified at Abigail's assumptions and borderline rudeness. And sometimes Cade's an idiot. But things start to work out between them, and by the middle of the book I wanted them to get together, without feeling any of the whiplash sometimes associated with such a change of opinion concerning a character.
I loved Eliza Carpenter. The quotes are great -- very much reminiscent of Elizabeth Zimmermann without actually copying her. The knitting-related parts of the story felt very real to me. I'm not entirely sure I'd like to have EC organizing my life like that, but it surely works in the story. And I love the sweater pattern that's included. I'm tempted to cast on for it right now, but I should probably finish at least one of my dozen or more current projects first. So I have the right sized needles available, if nothing else.
My regular readers are probably shocked by now. No complaints at all? So unlike me! Therefore, full disclosure: I could have lived without the last 14 paragraphs of the epilogue, but that's my hang up. I don't really like what a friend calls
Baby Ever After endings. Like I said though, that's my hang up. It's a common enough type of ending in romance novels that lots of people must enjoy it.
All in all, a very good book. I'm definitely going to get the next book when it comes out. I want to see what else Eliza's been up to.
EDITED TO ADD: The book is published as Eliza's Gift in Australia. I probably should have mentioned that earlier, since I know I have international readers.
The book "in the wild"
The WildI bought the book at The Bookstore in Glen Ellyn, even though they had to order it for me, which meant that I had to wait for it to come in. The Bookstore is a tiny, little bookstore. However, they're also next to my LYS, String Theory Yarn Co. (on the left in the photo), so I suggested to the owners of both shops that stocking the book could be a good idea. After all, there's a pattern for Cade's sweater in the back of the book. Buy the book, then head next door for the yarn. Win-win, right?
Of course, the book is also available online at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Powell's. It will be available in Target stores starting in April.
The Review:
I'm not always much of a romance reader, but I enjoyed How to Knit a Love Song. I admit, at first I was horrified at Abigail's assumptions and borderline rudeness. And sometimes Cade's an idiot. But things start to work out between them, and by the middle of the book I wanted them to get together, without feeling any of the whiplash sometimes associated with such a change of opinion concerning a character.
I loved Eliza Carpenter. The quotes are great -- very much reminiscent of Elizabeth Zimmermann without actually copying her. The knitting-related parts of the story felt very real to me. I'm not entirely sure I'd like to have EC organizing my life like that, but it surely works in the story. And I love the sweater pattern that's included. I'm tempted to cast on for it right now, but I should probably finish at least one of my dozen or more current projects first. So I have the right sized needles available, if nothing else.
My regular readers are probably shocked by now. No complaints at all? So unlike me! Therefore, full disclosure: I could have lived without the last 14 paragraphs of the epilogue, but that's my hang up. I don't really like what a friend calls
**SPOILER ALERT**
Baby Ever After endings. Like I said though, that's my hang up. It's a common enough type of ending in romance novels that lots of people must enjoy it.
All in all, a very good book. I'm definitely going to get the next book when it comes out. I want to see what else Eliza's been up to.
EDITED TO ADD: The book is published as Eliza's Gift in Australia. I probably should have mentioned that earlier, since I know I have international readers.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Frustrating Weekend
What do you mean, I didn't post last week? I see no week!
So, yesterday we went out for my sister's birthday. (New Star! Best Chinese restaurant ever! Well, within 15 miles, at least.) I even finished the hat in time.
You're just waiting for the frustrating part, aren't you? The hat was rejected. Deb didn't like it. It was too short, despite the fact that it's longer than she asked for. It's too loose, despite the fact that it's tighter than she asked for. I was waiting for her to tell me that she didn't like the color, despite the fact that she picked out the yarn. So, here's a photo of it in it's formerly completed state. (Well, the photo was before I cast off, but it's close enough.)
And the poor hat's current condition.
*sigh*
School? My Spanish midterm went well, complete with the 8-minute one-on-one conversation with the prof. This week I'm working on my midterm philosophy paper, in which I get to argue both sides of the legalizing prostitution issue. Fun! :/
So, yesterday we went out for my sister's birthday. (New Star! Best Chinese restaurant ever! Well, within 15 miles, at least.) I even finished the hat in time.
You're just waiting for the frustrating part, aren't you? The hat was rejected. Deb didn't like it. It was too short, despite the fact that it's longer than she asked for. It's too loose, despite the fact that it's tighter than she asked for. I was waiting for her to tell me that she didn't like the color, despite the fact that she picked out the yarn. So, here's a photo of it in it's formerly completed state. (Well, the photo was before I cast off, but it's close enough.)
And the poor hat's current condition.
*sigh*
School? My Spanish midterm went well, complete with the 8-minute one-on-one conversation with the prof. This week I'm working on my midterm philosophy paper, in which I get to argue both sides of the legalizing prostitution issue. Fun! :/
Monday, March 1, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Oh. Right. Monday.
Nothing much this week. I'm planning to turtle extensively for a little while, and hopefully reemerge feeling human at some point.
My Olympic knitting? Yeah, it goes slowly. This picture shows about 1.5 hours of work. Just the knitting, just this bit. Those 1.5 hours don't include the swatching, measuring, pattern-combing, plotting, calculations, ripping out, other attempts... none of that. Just this bit. 1.5 hours. The increase patterns are insane, but they're all I've found that will look good and lay flat(ish). Never again, NEVER AGAIN does Deb get to dictate exactly what she wants in a knitted item.
I no longer worry that I was setting the bar too low by choosing just this hat for my project.
My Olympic knitting? Yeah, it goes slowly. This picture shows about 1.5 hours of work. Just the knitting, just this bit. Those 1.5 hours don't include the swatching, measuring, pattern-combing, plotting, calculations, ripping out, other attempts... none of that. Just this bit. 1.5 hours. The increase patterns are insane, but they're all I've found that will look good and lay flat(ish). Never again, NEVER AGAIN does Deb get to dictate exactly what she wants in a knitted item.
I no longer worry that I was setting the bar too low by choosing just this hat for my project.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Non-Knitting Update
There's been very little knitting progress here this week. I did finish the hand portion of one of the mittens for my mom's birthday. However, when I went to add the thumb, I discovered that the pattern had told me to make the opening absurdly low. There would have been very little cuff over the wrist, and there would have been over 2 inches of empty mitten flopping around at the end of the fingers. Therefore, the mitten has taken another trip to the frog pond (it's third). I have noted the new thumb placement on the pattern's chart, and the fourth time should be the charm. Not that I'm thrilled about needing so many tries.
I haven't even begun my sister's birthday hat yet, so it doesn't look like I'll be winning the Knitting Olympics this year.
The good news is that I went to the dentist today! Thanks, Julie, for your recommendation. I'm Very Pleased with this dentist, which is really the first time I've been able to say that about a dentist. True, I did feel the Novocaine shot a bit more than I did with my last dentist. However, I didn't feel the drilling AT ALL, and there was new decay under the (already deep) filling that had fallen out, so I'm particularly impressed by that. In fact, it's been nearly four hours since I got the shot and I can still barely feel the right side of my mouth. This may make eating dinner interesting.
Also, I got my tax refund this week, so I've ordered a gizmo that I think will help with some of the slowness I've encountered lately on my home computer. I don't want to jinx things before I get it hooked up, but it's arrived, and I'm hopeful.
I haven't even begun my sister's birthday hat yet, so it doesn't look like I'll be winning the Knitting Olympics this year.
The good news is that I went to the dentist today! Thanks, Julie, for your recommendation. I'm Very Pleased with this dentist, which is really the first time I've been able to say that about a dentist. True, I did feel the Novocaine shot a bit more than I did with my last dentist. However, I didn't feel the drilling AT ALL, and there was new decay under the (already deep) filling that had fallen out, so I'm particularly impressed by that. In fact, it's been nearly four hours since I got the shot and I can still barely feel the right side of my mouth. This may make eating dinner interesting.
Also, I got my tax refund this week, so I've ordered a gizmo that I think will help with some of the slowness I've encountered lately on my home computer. I don't want to jinx things before I get it hooked up, but it's arrived, and I'm hopeful.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Knitting Update
I was supposed to post something on Monday, wasn't I? I seem to have started a tradition of flailing for a month or so at the beginning of every semester, and my blog is one thing that gets knocked off the table.
At any rate, I have a little knitting news for you all. I know you're excited. ;) (This is a photo-intensive post. Apologies to anyone with a slow connection.)
I have a new iPod (my first MP3 player, in fact). His name is George. He's purple. He also has a cozy. I always thought that people who knit cozies for their iPods and cellphones were crazy, but I didn't want his screen to get scratched in my purse, so he had a cozy within 12 hours of his arrival here. >_> I used some Claudia Handpaints fingering weight yarn that I had left over from one of my traveling scarf projects. I've always loved this colorway, and I'm delighted that I thought of something I could make for myself with the partial skein that I had kicking around.
I also did some knitting repair this week. Do you remember the Never Ending Scarf that I finished on Sunday, January 31, 2010? Of course you do. It was the cause of that whoop of joy heard 'round the world. Would you like to guess what happened on Thursday, February 4, 2010? No? I came home from school to find the scarf on the kitchen counter with a note asking me to fix it.
There had been a Zipper Incident. Can't see what I'm fussing about? Let George help to highlight the problem.
FIVE DAYS!!! It took me over 13 months to finish that blasted soul-sucking scarf and my sister managed to damage it in FIVE DAYS!!!!! And when I informed my sister that she was on knitting probation and would be banned from receiving any further handknits if anything else happened to this scarf or to the hat she's requested for her birthday, she had the gall to tell me that the scarf leapt into the zipper, even though she was holding her coat 3 inches away from the scarf at the time. I am skeptical. The pull has been mended as well as I could, given that this is acrylic yarn and thus splicing the torn strands is impossible.
While I'm at it, here are 2 pics of the entire scarf in its entirity, taken less than 24 hours before the Zipper Incident.
I've also been working on the mittens for my mom. After all, her birthday is tomorrow/today (depending on if we're going by the I-haven't-gone-to-bed-yet;-it's-still-Wednesday theory or by clock-based reality). Deadlines? I'm with Douglas Adams on those. ("I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.") This is still the first mitten. Luckily, we still aren't sure when we're celebrating, although it's extremely unlikely to be this weekend. The red line on the palm of the mitten is where the thumb will be knitted.
Unfortunately, missing this deadline is probably going to interfere with my ability to get my sister's hat knitted during the Knitting Olympics. Then again, I'm not entirely convinced that it's possible to knit this hat in the first place, since I'm supposed to be creating the pattern for a close-fitting, top-down hat in fingering weight yarn that will be longer in the back than on the sides and longer still in the front, but with no seams. Also, ribbing is prohibited. And my sister, who doesn't knit, has never seen a hat like this. I'm designing it based on her mental image of portions of several hats she's seen over the years, some of them possibly knitted. It needs to be custom-fit to her head. If I'm found stabbed to death with knitting needles anytime before March 12, know that I did it myself to put myself out of my misery. Also, this is absolutely the last knitted project that she gets to request. First the scarf, then this. Clearly she can't be trusted with the responsibility of it.
The SHoD (Squid Hat of DOOM) now has 3 tentacles. I really want to work on it, but that's probably because I need to be working on my mom's mittens. Hopefully I'll get those done in the next few days so I can squeeze in a day of fun knitting before tackling the other hat. Also, I'm not posting pictures of the SHoD because I want to spring it upon you in all its glory when it's completed. No spoilers. :p
At any rate, I have a little knitting news for you all. I know you're excited. ;) (This is a photo-intensive post. Apologies to anyone with a slow connection.)
I have a new iPod (my first MP3 player, in fact). His name is George. He's purple. He also has a cozy. I always thought that people who knit cozies for their iPods and cellphones were crazy, but I didn't want his screen to get scratched in my purse, so he had a cozy within 12 hours of his arrival here. >_> I used some Claudia Handpaints fingering weight yarn that I had left over from one of my traveling scarf projects. I've always loved this colorway, and I'm delighted that I thought of something I could make for myself with the partial skein that I had kicking around.
I also did some knitting repair this week. Do you remember the Never Ending Scarf that I finished on Sunday, January 31, 2010? Of course you do. It was the cause of that whoop of joy heard 'round the world. Would you like to guess what happened on Thursday, February 4, 2010? No? I came home from school to find the scarf on the kitchen counter with a note asking me to fix it.
There had been a Zipper Incident. Can't see what I'm fussing about? Let George help to highlight the problem.
FIVE DAYS!!! It took me over 13 months to finish that blasted soul-sucking scarf and my sister managed to damage it in FIVE DAYS!!!!! And when I informed my sister that she was on knitting probation and would be banned from receiving any further handknits if anything else happened to this scarf or to the hat she's requested for her birthday, she had the gall to tell me that the scarf leapt into the zipper, even though she was holding her coat 3 inches away from the scarf at the time. I am skeptical. The pull has been mended as well as I could, given that this is acrylic yarn and thus splicing the torn strands is impossible.
While I'm at it, here are 2 pics of the entire scarf in its entirity, taken less than 24 hours before the Zipper Incident.
I've also been working on the mittens for my mom. After all, her birthday is tomorrow/today (depending on if we're going by the I-haven't-gone-to-bed-yet;-it's-still-Wednesday theory or by clock-based reality). Deadlines? I'm with Douglas Adams on those. ("I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.") This is still the first mitten. Luckily, we still aren't sure when we're celebrating, although it's extremely unlikely to be this weekend. The red line on the palm of the mitten is where the thumb will be knitted.
Unfortunately, missing this deadline is probably going to interfere with my ability to get my sister's hat knitted during the Knitting Olympics. Then again, I'm not entirely convinced that it's possible to knit this hat in the first place, since I'm supposed to be creating the pattern for a close-fitting, top-down hat in fingering weight yarn that will be longer in the back than on the sides and longer still in the front, but with no seams. Also, ribbing is prohibited. And my sister, who doesn't knit, has never seen a hat like this. I'm designing it based on her mental image of portions of several hats she's seen over the years, some of them possibly knitted. It needs to be custom-fit to her head. If I'm found stabbed to death with knitting needles anytime before March 12, know that I did it myself to put myself out of my misery. Also, this is absolutely the last knitted project that she gets to request. First the scarf, then this. Clearly she can't be trusted with the responsibility of it.
The SHoD (Squid Hat of DOOM) now has 3 tentacles. I really want to work on it, but that's probably because I need to be working on my mom's mittens. Hopefully I'll get those done in the next few days so I can squeeze in a day of fun knitting before tackling the other hat. Also, I'm not posting pictures of the SHoD because I want to spring it upon you in all its glory when it's completed. No spoilers. :p
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